Gruppenbild mit Dame: »Das Gericht der Brabanter Münzergilde« von Maarten de Vos (1594)

Abstract

This article analyzes a painting by Maarten de Vos (1532–1603), the most distinguished Flemish painter before the Baroque period. Although relatively unknown among jurists, its legal iconography is remarkable. It combines a portrait of the members of a guild court and a highly elaborated allegory of justice: a Iustitia among Moses, Iustinianus, Numa Pompilius and Lycurgus. First, the painting is described according to the art-historical literature, which is mainly in Dutch. The critical comment which follows focuses on the identification of Lycurgus. In contrast to the other three ancient legislators, Lycurgus cannot be identified by an extract from a legal source but only by a depiction of animals. Until now, therefore, the view has prevailed that the representation is about Pliny the Elder and his »Naturalis Historia«. Contrary to this view, the article tries to demonstrate that the depiction of animals (a dog is eating from a bowl, another is hunting a deer) refers to a parable which Lycurgus, as handed down by Plutarch, had invented to illustrate the political importance of education. Other visualizations of this parable by Caesar B. van Everdingen, Otto van Veen and Jan Saenredam are consulted for the purpose of comparison. Finally, the painting of de Vos is put into the tradition of Iustitia-allegories and group portraits, especially in Holland, Italy and France.

Keywords

• MPIeR